The team, Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling
(WISSARD) has been drilling into Lake Whillans, which is buried
2,600 feet below the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.

Liquid water samples were first removed from the lake Monday,
Jan. 28, at 6:20 a.m, Fox reports.

They squirted the lake water into dishes of nutrients and food,
hoping something would grow, a test that will take weeks.

They also performed a much quicker test — they dyed the water,
labeling any genetic material (DNA) that was inside with a marker
that glows green. And green it did glow. They could see
individual cells in the water glowing green with the dye,
Fox reports. More intensive testing will follow
to determine if these cells are alive, and if they are new types
of microbes.

Headed
out to Lake WhillansMarci Beitch,
WISSARD

Multiple other teams, including one from Russia and one from
Britain, are trying to tap into subglacial lakes that are even
deeper down under the ice sheet.

The Russian team is drilling into Lake Vostok. On Jan. 14 they
retrieved their
first liquid water samples. Preliminary testing of some
frozen water they brought back on a drill bit
didn't show signs of life. Other reports indicate that the
Vostok team found bacteria, but it matched bacteria found in
kerosene and was probably contamination from the drilling, Fox
says.

Another team from an expedition to a much younger, and easier to
reach, Antarctic lake, Lake Vida, found evidence indicating that
it is inhabited by special bacteria that has been isolated for
more than 2,800 years, according to
a study published in November.